Troy Polamalu (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/6352/;_ylt=AgzFk5Ju0Giygk4P6rgY7rDsrZJ4) always has followed the beat of a different drummer, and this year it’s taken him back to California.

Polamalu will again follow the non-traditional training methods of non-conformist guru Marv Marinovich in California, returning to the man he trusted with his body until the past few years.

Marinovich does not believe in the traditional NFL-style weight-lifting and Polamalu was one of his prized students. But for the past few years, Polamalu remained in Pittsburgh to train rather than going to the West Coast. After a disappointing season in which he sustained three separate injuries—to his knee, his ribs and his oblique—Polamalu has decided to skip all the voluntary workouts in Pittsburgh to rejoin his California guru.

“I kind of went away from what I did previously,” said Polamalu, who attended but did not practice during the team’s mandatory minicamp last weekend. “I’d been staying here the last two years and training here in Pittsburgh, other than going to California. I’m trying to spend a little more time out there with my trainer in California.”

Polamalu has disdained the free weights and machines that football players traditionally use to train. He also believes certain aspects of training camp are unnecessary and he has criticized the NFL-sponsored consumption of Gatorade.

So, he’s off to California, where he will remain much of the summer. He said he will not practice with his teammates until training camp opens.

“I have some of the stuff here, but you can’t duplicate the facilities, the coaching that I have out there,” Polamalu said. “So I’m trying to stay out there a little more.”

Polamalu had surgery to clean out loose tissue in his knee, but his partially torn PCL went untouched because, he said, nothing could help it but rest. Coach Mike Tomlin did not publicly make an issue of Polamalu’s absence the rest of the spring.

“The prize is what we need to do this fall,” Tomlin said. “He needs to prepare himself to do that and he’s doing it.”

Notes, Quotes

• LB James Farrior (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/3938/;_ylt=AmylXCL9DA7oyJbVxObLQ6XsrZJ4) said he is the designated defender to wear the new radio communication receiver in his helmet for the defense, although it was not tried in minicamp.

• The Steelers resume their OTAs May 20.

• Mike Tomlin rode his special teams hard last season, devoting a large portion of spring and training camp practices to them. They did not respond in kind during the season, so he’s taking a new approach.

“We’re emphasizing it but we’re emphasizing it in a different way,” Tomlin said. “I’m trying to create a little urgency through scarcity. We’re not going to do it as much; we’re going to work hard but we’re going to work smarter.”

• Hines Ward (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/4323/;_ylt=AoDBHZZ2_4nrEqhe3EQZd27srZJ4) was scheduled to make his second trip of the year to South Korea, where he was welcomed as a hero following his Super Bowl MVP in 2006. Since then, he’s made the trip twice a year to work on his foundation to aid bi-racial people in that country. Ward was born in South Korea, son of a Korean native mother and black U. S. serviceman father.

• Even RB Willie Parker (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/7073/;_ylt=AkUxQV2QrWrJyAiDttsyGojsrZJ4) was surprised the Steelers waited until the fourth-round to draft an offensive lineman.

“Everybody said what I need is an offensive lineman,” said Parker. “That wasn’t my call to pick an offensive lineman. It would have been good to get one, but we didn’t.”

• Rookie RB Rashard Mendenhall was robbed at gunpoint in Chicago two days after he left his first minicamp in Pittsburgh. One of the two men put a gun to Mendenhall’s face and demanded everything he had. He turned over his wallet, his cell phone and his car keys. No one was hurt and the police have not made an arrest.

BettisFan

05-09-2008, 11:42 PM

lol wow if Willie was suprised about the o-line then we know we made a mistake.... lol who cares hes one player! Trust management.

Haiku_Dirtt

05-10-2008, 04:05 AM

Marv is also very well known for driving his son Todd into the ground like a 1976 FJ-40 at the 2020 Baja 500.

Todd "Marijuanavich" also was part of one of the sickest "regular season" college football QB performances in recent college football memory. A free Ross Perot pin for anyone who can guess who his QB counterpart was in that game (Maddox).

Todd had the great fortune of having his first Big Mac at the ripe young age of TWENTY (20). What more do you need to know about Marv that half the chicks in Newport Beach and Laguna Niguel don't already know. Dicipline is not an option...it's the only option.

Great for Troy. Sucked for Todd. Lesson for any overzealous parent out there. Last I heard all that hard work by Marv that went into Todd is plucking a guitar string on the beach until the surf is up.

Know your children before you put them through the meat grinder. Troy is the seldom exception to almost everything. A Tale of Two Trojans.

Galax Steeler

05-10-2008, 05:32 AM

I hope all of this works out for Troy and he can get back to where he used to be.

Rhee Rhee

05-10-2008, 06:14 AM

troy doesnt like gatorade?

who woulda thunk it.

JanBr7

05-10-2008, 07:49 AM

Side not on Mendenhall's robbery -- I read on another forum that they stole his Rose Bowl watch. Sucks if it's true.

klick81

05-10-2008, 10:21 AM

Makes sense. I was beginning to think Troy's unorthodox training was the cause of his lackluster seasons...now we find out the opposite may be true.

RoethlisBURGHer

05-10-2008, 11:31 AM

I don't have a problem with Troy training in Cali since it's for his benefit in performance. He's doing it because he thinks it'll make him better on the field.

The Duke

05-10-2008, 12:45 PM

Makes sense. I was beginning to think Troy's unorthodox training was the cause of his lackluster seasons...now we find out the opposite may be true.

hopefully. I want the always feared tazmanian devil back!

I don't have a problem with Troy training in Cali since it's for his benefit in performance. He's doing it because he thinks it'll make him better on the field.

makes you think, after his contract is over he may want to go to the raiders :horror: or bolts, or even the niners . though he said last year he wants to stay here, but things can change

Preacher

05-10-2008, 02:05 PM

I don't have a problem with Troy training in Cali since it's for his benefit in performance. He's doing it because he thinks it'll make him better on the field.

Exactly.

When they stay away... because they have an idea of the training regimen they need, I am all for that.

It is those who stay away and pout (cough faneca cough) that I have a problem with.

Thank goodness that is over.

Rhee Rhee

05-10-2008, 02:05 PM

makes you think, after his contract is over he may want to go to the raiders :horror: or bolts, or even the niners . though he said last year he wants to stay here, but things can change

wow scary thought there... somehow i can see troy in a raiders jersey :doh:...

TackleMeBen

05-10-2008, 02:27 PM

if this will help troy be like he use to i am all for him skipping OTAs and getting back to his old ways.

note to all the offensive players for the other teams: troy is going to be making havoc on you this season..

Elvis

05-10-2008, 03:55 PM

TackleMeBen... I have a confession for ya!!
It really does something to me to hear you talk like that!!!:wink02:

Galax Steeler

05-11-2008, 05:55 AM

Wouldn't it be great to see troy come out and play like his old self this year.

Elvis

05-11-2008, 06:07 AM

Wouldn't it be great to see troy come out and play like his old self this year.
It would be nice galax steeler. And I think that he will and be back be to his normal self because he has seen himself lose a little the last couple years, since our super bowl tittle and even in the super bowl he didnt make that many plays like he did in the play-offs leading up to the big game. But I think that he will be fine though..
:tt02:

BIGBENFASTWILLIE

05-12-2008, 11:03 PM

I just hope Troy gets back to his old self.......and can stay healty for the year

stlrtruck

05-13-2008, 07:47 AM

wow scary thought there... somehow i can see troy in a raiders jersey :doh:...

Remember, Troy has already mentioned how he and his wife love Pittsburgh and that he wants to be in Pittsburgh for a very long time (sounds to me he wants to go old school and stay there after he retires)....from what I've read, he only goes out to CA for training purposes....maybe he should consider bringing this guru to Pittsburgh.

The_WARDen

05-13-2008, 08:44 AM

lol wow if Willie was suprised about the o-line then we know we made a mistake.... lol who cares hes one player! Trust management.

yeah, who cares what the players think!!! Oh wait...with the exception of Ben.
They listen to him...but screw the rest of them!!